Taken from a recent Q&A Sesssion with a Community Manager!
The text in BOLD is the question being asked, by members of the community!
The text in RED is my added commentary on the question and answer.
Q. This says you "can" upgrade the stats of all your heroes - does that mean players will have a choice in it? Or it happens automatically?
A. Yep, you have a choice, it won't happen automatically. When the requirements are met, the bonus will become available for activation - it is up to you whether you press the "Activate" button or not. However, pay attention that once you press it, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO DEACTIVATE IT.
For context, the initial announcement used language that suggested we didn't have to opt-in to this new activity. Once you opt-in, you can't remove it.
Q. For example, a player has Mushy or Faf tweaked for Hydra performance. Will this change be forced on them and upset the balance they've established?
A. Devs say that there won't be any balance disturbances, however I asked them to double-check Hydra, just in case.
I believe this to be a "non-answer" due to a lack of understanding either the question, or the issue. Raising stats for Hydra heroes will 100% impact the "sweet spots" you've leveled heroes to for the sake of fighting the Hydras
Q. It says it upgrades all the basic stats... what is that supposed to accomplish for heroes if all heroes get the same boost equally? What's the purpose here?
A. This feature can upgrade the basic stats, but not all of them at once, each bonus from the set is different. It's not like you met the requirements, press the button, and all basic stats (I mean, all of them) are upgraded simultaneously.
The question being asked is more in relation to how stats interact with each other. For example, if you're raising EVERYONE's armor, and EVERYONE's armor penetration, what's the point?
We learn later that each set provides different bonuses, but none of the sets will offer armor or magic penetration (or dodge or critical hit). Therefore, there will not be a straight 1 to 1 upgrade and downgrade due to addition of stats!
Q. Will this be an event with quests? Or the boosts just happen automatically if you've already hit the power milestones? (Or both?)
A. I guess I already replied for this one, but
This is indeed answered later, but to answer it again: There are no quests or tasks to unlock or level up the "Power Milestones" of hero sets.
The system will take a look at all heroes within a set, and their power levels. Added together, they will fill a bar that will then give ALL of your heroes the additional stats. There is no cost, no additional currency, beyond simply leveling up the heroes as you always have.
Q. Can you only power up Sets during an event, or will it be open-ended like skins, talismans, etc.
A. This is an open-ended feature as you called it, no time restrictions, available permanently.
Q. It says it will boost "all heroes" not just the ones in the set you upgrade... How does that work?
A. When you unlock the bonus from the set, let's say, Intelligence+3 and Health+3, and press "Activate" button, it will increase the stats of ALL heroes you have for Intelligence+3 and Health+3. You won't be able to revert it back, but it's up to you whether you want to activate it or not.
Q. Will penetration stats be boosted as well? Or just attack/defense?
A. No, penetration stats won't be boosted, Devs said that they didn't touch the stats that are not available for all the heroes.
Please note that because of this statement, the assumption is that dodge and critical hit stats will also never be increased. And, since those are based on main stats (str/agi/int) this hero set stat buff is a direct negative impact to all heroes and teams that use crit or dodge.
Q. What are these "hero bundles" that are collected? Is that part of "sets" or (whatever we're calling it)? What does it mean "fight your enemies and collect special bundles?"
A. ... I guess I need some context, where you met such a text?
Here is a screenshot of what the question is referencing. It's my belief that this is a mis-type, and should say "hero sets" instead of "hero bundles"
Q. How many heroes in each set? Why only 36 heroes included in the 10 sets?
A. 3-4 heroes if I recall correctly, maybe 5 at most. Some sets are lore-oriented and unlock stories as well, that's why it is only a part of them which will be currently introduced.
I believe the CM misunderstood the question here. The announcement post (featured at the top of this blog) states that 36 heroes will be a part of a Hero Set. There are over 60 total heroes.
Q. How expensive is this going to be? Will it involve a new game currency?
A. No new currency used, no resources (like Gold or Dust) to activate the bonus. You just meet the requirements, press the button (or don't press it), and that's all.
This is great news! Many believed that this would incur an additional cost somewhere, somehow. Simply leveling up your hero as you normally would will allow you to take part in this new function. Leveling up your power level comes from every aspect of leveling a hero, from their skills to their color rank to their skins and glyphs, hero level, artifacts, etc.
Q. Will Set upgrades be visible to attackers like talismans are?
A. No, they won't be visible, however devs considered it a curious suggestion. I'm not quite sure if it will be done or not, but for now - they won't be visible.
This is a little concerning, but not unexpected. As it is, only the MOST seasoned players can tell just by looking at a hero's power level if they're leveled to max or not, and ONLY after the fight in the results/info tab. Remember that for the most part, we cannot see how well a hero is leveled in the current system, so having a slightly higher cap to available stats shouldn't impact your team decisions whatsover
Team Synergy beats Raw Power Every Day of the Week!
Q. The 12,000 stats you get from the hero sets, is that 12,000 total or 12,000 for each stat? For example the class set given is it 3,000 Str, 3,000 Agi, and 6,000 int? (Representing the 4 heroes In the set, or is it determined some other way?)
A. 12,000 means total hero power increase you'll get if you activate ALL the bonuses from upcoming Hero Sets.
Basically maxing every hero in every hero set will give every hero +12000 power worth of stats.
Q. What is the resource to level it? Does it scale off individual hero power/investment as it suggests?
A. If you mean the resources for leveling/activating the bonuses - none of them are needed. If you mean the source for unlocking the sets - that's individual hero power, yes. Also Hero Sets are not considered as "hero upgrages", so they shouldn't affect any existing quests and their auto-complete process (I asked devs about it).
Q. Follow up question for Hero Sets, if the power requirements have already been met (for example for a person with 8M thp), the activation option becomes available immediately upon being rolled out?
A. Yeah, I suppose so - the requirements are not that hard to meet actually, so I guess they'll be auto unlocked (not activated, that's important) for the majority of you guys
The statement that the requirement are not that hard to meet suggests to me that maybe having one or two of the heroes in a set leveled up to any significant level will unlock most of the bonus stats for that set!
Q. What is the purpose behind this feature?
A. Well, I can say that I can't name all the purposes, but introduce more lore is one of them